The recent moves by Google and Yahoo! to allow one-click opt out to cookie tracking are significant to the online ad industry. There is a much longer and more thought out post on this topic but to keep it short and sweet (just like a homemade cookie) the gist is that this is a sumply a proactive move in light of recent US gov scrutiny. Google’s policy and opt-out is HERE… Also here is the official Yahoo release and Google’s blog post on the subject

Opt-out is much better for the advertiser than an opt-in in the online ad space. Not to worry, Google and other ad technology providers are benefitting massively from cookie tracking that 3rd party networks run even if users opt-out directly from the big players. I am starting to think that the new battle ground for online advertising is over 3rd party traffic – making this a proxy war… Hmmm time for a snack to ponder that one further.